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case as I know them, in part, by observation, and fully so by the evidence of reliable eye witnesses.

The negroes were innocent of all blame and conducted themselves commendably in every particular. 

As I have before stated, there is a positive antagonism existing between the negroes, and the detachment of regulars stationed here, which I presume, grew out of the fact, that Bv't Major Occleston, their Commandant, openly avowed that he did not come here to support the Bureau and he was not going to do it."

More than this, the leading citizens of this place, who are bitter in their denunciations of the Bureau, profess to be the soldiers' friends, and, of course, have been instrumental in creating and fostering, the prejudices which are calculated to engender strife and blood-shed.
 
I can do nothing to allay these disturbances, for my hands are tied.  The Bureau, to fulfill its mission, must have a military back-bone. As it is now, I am powerless.

I have the honor to be Col
Your Obdt Servant 
Jno. B. Callis
Bvt Col U S V & Supt 
Dist North Ala 

R. L. S. O. 170.